Korean cabbage and beef mix

In search of new ways to eat vegetables, I keep asking myself the question: what makes a dish special. It could be some flavor that is homogenous in the whole dish, or it could be a mix of many flavors, some mild, some sharp. So I decide to try out a mix of flavors. Vegetables often taste nice when mixed with bites of meat. And the dish would be even more exciting if the meat and the vegetables have contrasting tastes. So in this dish, I make a combination of beef that is sweet and salty, with Korean cabbage that is mild, celery that is crispy, and a preserved turnip that has a distinctive salty surprise.

Recipe: Korean cabbage and beef mix (for 5-6)

Ingredients:
- 6 cups of shredded Korean cabbage
- 2 stalks of celery
- half a small onion, thinly sliced
- 6-8 oz cooked beef, cut to small strips of 1" long
- 1 salted turnip, soaked to reduce its salt content, and then coarsely chopped
- 1-2 teaspoons (tp) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon (TB) light soy sauce
- 2-3 TB oil
- about 1/4 cup meat stock

Procedure:
1. Dissolve the brown sugar in soy sauce. Mix the sauce with the cooked beef. Allow the cooked beef to absorb all the sauce.
2. Then place the beef on a non-stick pan. Set the pan on medium heat and let the beef sizzle until the sugar and soy sauce has caramelized. Remove the beef from the pan and set aside.
3. Fry the chopped salted turnip and sliced onion in 1 TB oil until both are lightly browned. Set aside.
4. Add the shredded cabbage into the pan and allow to soften by the heat of the pan. Stir frequently. Add 1-2 TB meat stock if the pan becomes to dry. Once the stock is added, stir quickly so that the cabbage can be cooked in the steam of the stock.
5. When most of the cabbage has freshened up, add in the celery. Add 1-2 TB oil and stir fry the mixture until the celery freshens up. Return the onion, turnip and beef to the pan. Stir to mix. Then serve right away.